Feeling Intensely

"Why do you choose to be alone?"

Elleora watched Leia as she picked up their coffees and made her way to their table. Her feet resting on the toes of her canvas shoes. She was worried that they wouldn't have anything to talk about. And what Elleora hated more than anything was irksome silence.

"Why do you choose to be alone?", Leia spurts, placing the mugs on the coffee table.
And head shot! , Elleora thinks.

"What do you mean?" , Elleora says, choosing to play dull.

"You know what I mean. People aren't so bad at this school. And I have been to my fair share of schools.", returns Leia.

Elleora wracks her brain for a reason. Responding from her list of excuses wouldn't work in her favour. She could see that Leia was different. Leia wasn't making small talk, she had asked a very particular question.

"Barely a month of final year left. What's the point.", Elleora explains, not responding to Leia's question. Leia nods with a hint of a smile forming, raising her mug to her mouth.

"Have you decided on what you're wearing to the party? I'm thinking maybe cosplaying it. I could play an anime character. Still not convinced whether I should lose the colour or not.", Leia points to her head.

Elleora shakes her head, "you should definitely keep it, it looks adorable", avoiding Leia's question.

"ooh, I know exactly what you should wear, there's this character in...", Leia pulls out her phone.

Elleora was so engrossed in Leia's animated gab that she found herself smiling with comfort. She pulled her feet onto the chair and they spoke for hours. She had come to learn that Leia had a range of interests that were quite intriguing. Leia was into manga, anime and cosplay. Elleora had also noticed how she slipped animated references in bits of conversation unknowingly. Leia also wore quite a bit of jewellery, beads and threads around her wrist, rings on her fingers, elegant chains around her neck.

It was past six when they decided to head home, Leia had to babysit her younger sister. Elleora stood next to her bicycle, turning slightly to wave good bye and Leia slapped her hand, going in for a hug.
"See you tomorrow at 11", shouted Leia, running away before Elleora could ask.

Elleora decided on walking her bicycle for a bit, to think. She was an excessive thinker. And she hadn't thought much today. She had had company today. And it wasn't as hard as she thought it could be. As it used to be.

She looked up at the sky. She usually let it affect her mood. She could feel the sky feeling low today. But she was in control today. Should she be allowed to be in control? It hadn't been a minute since the thought crossed her mind and a drop fell on her arm. She got on her blue baby and cycled to the nearest bus stop to take shelter.

She waited for 10 minutes and a bus stopped, a boy in faded skinny blue jeans and a Star Wars T-shirt got off, ear phones plugged into his ears and an umbrella tucked to his side. He looked up at her and caught her staring at his umbrella, Elleora turned away, her ears burning red.

"I don't mind sharing the umbrella.", the boy spoke unexpectedly.

"No, that's fine, thank you", Elleora voiced softly, and a clap of thunder made her want to take her words back.

"Now, young Skywalker, you will die.", he teases, noticing how she stared at his t-shirt a little longer than normal, walking  backwards and opening up his umbrella which seemed to be big enough for the two of them.

"FINE!", she raises her voice a little, hoping he'd hear her over the sound of rain, surprised at the lack of caution that she usually exercised.

He stops and jogs to her, stopping as the tip of his umbrella touches the roof of the bus stop. Elleora pushes herself to act natural and hastily locks her bicycle to the nearest lamp post and steps under the umbrella.

"Onwards, Captain Jack Sparrow?", he asks, reminding her of Leia. Elleora points to the direction of her house and crouches under the umbrella hoping she wouldn't get drenched.
"May I?", the boy asks, indicating whether he could put his hand on her shoulder so that neither of them got wet and she nods although she felt slightly apprehensive of being touched by a stranger, nonetheless, a boy.

"Isiah", the strange boy offered.

"Elleora", she responds, trying to walk slightly ahead of him to avoid making anymore conversation. He kept up though.

"I'm a few houses behind, just moved in.", he continues. Elleora doesn't acknowledge, wondering why he'd move at such an odd time of the year. He looked like a student. Maybe he wasn't. They walk for a bit more till they're at her doorstep.

She whispers a soft 'thank you' and goes in before he could say more. She peeks through her window to check if he's still standing outside her door and sees him walking away from her house. She sighs, grateful for his help but exhausted with all the social interaction she had to experience in a day.

At around 9, she found herself writing down a free verse. Some about Leia, some about her and the least about Izel. She flipped to the page with the quote and her fingers traced each word. She turned her head so that it fell flat on her bed, her eyes looking fixedly at the shirt that hung from her closet door.

Would she be okay if she'd no longer see Izel after a month? Would she be able to find another Izel? Someone else to distract herself with, to forget the problems she creates for herself.